King George II of Great Britain
George II (George Augustus; German: Georg II. August; 30 October/9 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 (O.S.) until his death. George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany. In 1701, his grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, became second-in-line to the British throne after about fifty Catholics higher in line were excluded by the Act of Settlement, which restricted the succession to Protestants. After the deaths of Sophia and Anne, Queen of Great Britain, in 1714, his father George I, Elector of Hanover, inherited the British throne. In the first years of his father's reign as king, George was associated with opposition politicians, until they re-joined the governing party in 1720. As king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic policy, which was largely controlled by Great Britain's parliament. As elector, he spent 12 summers in Hanover, where he had more direct control over government policy. He had a difficult relationship with his eldest son, Frederick, who supported the parliamentary opposition. During the War of the Austrian Succession, George participated at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, and thus became the last British monarch to lead an army in battle. In 1745, supporters of the Catholic claimant to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart, attempted and failed to depose George in the last of the Jacobite rebellions. Frederick died unexpectedly in 1751, leaving George's grandson, George III, as heir apparent and ultimately king. For two centuries after his death, history tended to view George II with disdain, concentrating on his mistresses, short-temper, and boorishness. Since then, some scholars have re-assessed his legacy and conclude that he held and exercised influence in foreign policy and military appointments. Early Life George was born in the city of Hanover in Germany, and was the son of George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later King George I of Great Britain), and his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle. Both of George's parents committed adultery, and in 1694 their marriage was dissolved on the pretext that Sophia had abandoned her husband. She was confined to Ahlden House and denied access to her two children, George and his sister Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, whom she probably never saw again. Until the age of four, George spoke only French, the language of diplomacy and the court, but he was thereafter taught German by one of his tutors, Johann Hilmar Holstein. He was also schooled in English and Italian, and studied genealogy, military history and battle tactics with particular diligence. George's second cousin once removed, Queen Anne, ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1702. She had no surviving children, and by the Act of Settlement 1701 the English Parliament designated Anne's closest Protestant blood relations, George's grandmother Sophia and her descendants, as Anne's heirs in England and Ireland. Consequently, after his grandmother and father, George was third in line to succeed Anne in two of her realms. He was naturalized as an English subject in 1705 by the Sophia Naturalization Act, and in 1706 he was made a Knight of the Garter and created Duke and Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton and Baron Tewkesbury in the Peerage of England. England and Scotland united in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, and jointly accepted the succession as laid down by the Act of Settlement. Category:Monarchs Category:British Category:Articles with Wikipedia Content Category:1760 Deaths Category:House of Hanover